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Ceremony in Death
Plot Summary Conducting a top secret investigation into the death of a fellow police officer has Lieutenant Eve Dallas treading on dangerous ground. She must put professional ethics before personal loyalties. But when a dead body is placed outside her home, Eve takes the warning personally. With her husband, Roarke, watching her every move, Eve is drawn into the most dangerous case of her career. Every step she takes makes her question her own sense of right and wrong - and brings her closer to a confrontation with humanity's most seductive form of evil... ''--The Penguin Group'' Timeline Approximate Story Start Date: October, 2058 Day 1 Capter 1 * Eve is at the viewing for a fellow cop, Frank Wojinski, who reportedly died of heart failure. ** When Feeney was a rookie, he partnered with Frank. Feeney is grief stricken by the loss of his friend and mentor. ** Eve pays her respects to Frank's family. She meets his widow, their adult son and daughter, and five grandkids. ** Alice Lingstrom, Frank's granddaughter, slips Eve a note asking her to meet her at the Aquarian Club the next night at midnight and to tell no one. * When Eve gets home, she goes to her home office to work and sleep in her sleep chair. She can't sleep in their bedroom while Roarke is away. ** Eve runs Alice Lingstrom and finds she works at a Wiccan shop. Eve wonders how a solid cop like Frank ends up with a granddaughter who is into witchcraft. * Eve is missing Roarke, who is away on the Olympus Resort. She takes a shower and feels hands circle her waist and then slide up to cup her breasts. "Summerset, you wild man." Roarke is home and, while seducing his wife, says, "I'm not going to fire him." Eve counters, "It was worth a shot." *Following shower sex, Eve and Roarke get caught up on what each has been doing while they were apart. Roarke tells Eve he is going to accompany her to the Aquarian Club to meet Alice. * Relaxed from sex, Eve sleeps deeply next to Roarke, but is awoken a couple hours later by what she would have sworn was chanting. She decides it was Galahad that woke her. Day 2 Chapter 2 * While Peabody sweats over clearing Eve's computer of old cases, Eve picks her brain about Wicca, as she was raised as a Free-Ager. ** Whitney calls Eve to his office and tells her, "DS Wojinski was either pursuing an investigation of his own off the clock or involved in illegals." Whitney tells Eve that she can tell Peabody, but no one else on the force and no media. He orders Eve not to tell Feeney that she is investigating Frank's death. The autopsy on Frank showed Zeus and digitalis. There is a question of Feeney covering for him using his position as Captain of EDD. ** Eve collects Peabody and tells her to log in home office. All records are to be coded and sealed and nothing is to go through Cop Central. Peabody responds, "It's internal isn't it? It's one of us." * Working from her home office, Eve gathers information about Illegals Detective Marion Burns who has been working undercover at the Athame Club for eight months. She witnessed Frank purchase a small package from known Illegals dealer, Selina Cross on September 22, 2058 (page 24). ** Eve and Peabody run Selina Cross and find she hasn't been arrested since '51. A tattoo of an inverted pentagram is over her left eyebrow. Peabody tells Dallas, "She's not Wicccan. She's a Satanist." * Roarke and Eve arrive at the Aquarian Club early, so detour into the Psychic Deli. ** Eve has her palm read by Cassandra who tells Roarke in Gaelic to stay close to Eve as she is in danger of losing her life and perhaps her soul. She gives Eve a stone for protection. Eve thinks it's a bunch of bull, but Roarke is more open to the possibility of the supernatural. Chapter 3 * At the Aquarian Club, Roarke goes over to sit with Peabody who is wearing a dress her mother made, while Eve meets with Alice. * Alice tells Eve that she became interested in Wiccan through her college psychology studies. She then met Selina Cross and Alban who took her to a ritual where she drank the blood of a sacrificed goat. She was tied to the alter and used by all. She had been a virgin and by the end of the night, she was "their apprentice, their toy". ** After seeing Alban and Selina sacrifice a human child in a private ritual, Alice broke away from the cult and went back to Isis, a high priestess, who had initiated her into Wicca. She finally told her grandfather, Frank, everything and Alice believes Selina is responsible for his death. ** Alice tells Eve that Selina is a shape-shifter who comes to her as a raven every night. ** Eve suggests that Alice get professional help and Alice runs out. ** Eve has Peabody trail Alice home to make sure she is safe. * Eve and Roarke find a black cat next to their car. It is a droid and swipes its claws at Eve when she bends to pet it. Roarke tells it to go away in Gaelic. ** Eve asks Roarke to help her with the E-work to access Frank's personal unit and logs. She offers sex with a cop as an incentive. He tells her he wants sex first and makes a joke about which cop, Eve or Peabody, he would pick to have sex with. Eve tells him that he can't have sex after his crack about her aide. Eve bets Roarke fifty credits that he won't get sex. Chapter 4 * After sex, Roarke has Eve give him an IOU on a memo cube. He then gets to work. Eve gets a call from Peabody informing her that Alice is dead. * Eve arrives at the scene where Peabody tells her that Alice left her apartment and then seemed to be talking to someone, but no one was there. Suddenly, Alice turned and ran into the street in front of a Rapid Cab. The driver tried to stop, but Alice was struck and killed. ** Eve and Peabody investigate Alice's apartment where they find a recording of chanting on her link and a raven's feather on her windowsill. Peabody tells Eve that the only thing she saw when Alice was outside was a black cat. * Eve and Peabody go to notify Alice's next of kin. Her mother Brenda falls apart, and Alice's younger brother, Jamie, tells them that he will take care of her. * Eve takes Peabody home and then heads home herself. Day 3 Chapter 5 * Over breakfast, Roarke fills Eve in on Frank's personal logs from his home unit that Roarke accessed. Eve realizes that Frank was thinking like a grandfather and not a cop. It got him killed. And now Alice is dead too. ** Roarke asks Eve to be careful and cancels all of his out of town trips for the next month. He plans to stay close to his wife. * While Eve and Peabody go over Alice's toxicology report at Central, Feeney enters and blasts Eve for not telling him about Alice's death. He was her godfather. Eve lies to him about why she is investigating a traffic accident. Eve convinces Feeney to go home. * Eve and Peabody pay a visit to Selina Cross. Selina tells them she knows about Alice's death, as she saw it in her scrying mirror. Selina starts a fire with a flick of her wrist, but refuses to demonstrate her shape-shifting powers. Eve taunts her and pisses her off and says on her way out, "Your fire is going out Ms. Cross. Pretty soon you're going to have nothing but a mess of ashes." ** After Eve and Peabody leave, Alban comes to Selina. She throws a tantrum and then they engage in violent sex. Once she is calmed, she decides they need to have a black mass and sacrifice someone. Alban tells her that she can choose who dies. Chapter 6 * Eve and Peabody go to Spirit Quest where they meet Isis. They speak of Alice and Selina Cross. **Isis then goes into a trance and makes comments that show she knows about Eve's past and how her father died. Isis tells her, "You'll need all before this cycle passes. A wolf, a boar, a silver blade. Fire, smoke and death. Trust the wolf, slay the boar, and live." ** Isis tells Eve that she studied and was studied at the Kijinsky Institute in Prague and that her psychic abilities are documented. ** Isis tells Eve that her wedding ring has the symbol of protection on it. She invites Eve, Roarke, and Peabody to the next gathering of her Coven. * Eve arrives home to find an emotional Mavis who discovered that Roarke owns Eclectic, the company that offered her a recording contract. Eve assures Mavis that Roarke would only offer her a contract if it was good business and that it wasn't done as a favor. * Roarke comes home to find Eve sitting under the arbor where they were married. They make love on the grass. ** Eve questions Roarke about Mavis' recording contract, but he insists it was done for business reasons. He believes she will be a commercial success. ** Eve then asks Roarke about the symbol of protection on her wedding ring. Embarrassed, he says that it is a personal shield because she is essential to his life and she risks her life routinely. Chapter 7 * Eve and Roarke visit Selina's club the Athame. There they meet and talk to Lobar, one of her followers. His eyes are tinted red and his incisors are sharpened to fangs. He claims to have 'banged' Alice, but only in group settings. He confirms Selina's alibi for the night of Alice's death. * Back at home, Eve run's Lobar's prints to find his real name is Robert Matthias and that his parents are Baptist deacons in Kansas. **Eve is feeling dirty after their trip to the Athame. She asks Roarke to make love to her as a type of cleansing and they go to bed. * Alban and Selina have their ritual and Lobar is the chosen sacrifice. Day 4 Chapter 8 * Eve and Roarke are awakened in the early hours by the security alarm. Someone has gotten onto the grounds, but not into the house. Armed, they both go out to investigate. ** Roarke manages to capture the intruder. Eve recognizes him; Jamie Lingstrom, Alice's brother. ** Jamie shows Roarke the jammer he created to disarm the security. Then he used a ladder to climb the fence. ** Jamie shows them the body of Lobar strapped naked to an inverted pentagram and leaning against the wall of their property. ** Eve calls it in and has Roarke take Jamie inside and bring her a field kit. Roarke acts as her temporary aide until Peabody arrives. They process the scene while Roarke goes back inside to talk to Jamie. Chapter 9 * Eve questions Jamie and asks Roarke to get him out of the mansion without anyone knowing he was there. * Eve and Peabody drive through the crowd of reporters at the front gate while Roarke buzzes by them in a minichopper. *Nadine ambushes Eve at Central. Eve gives her a clue to get her to start digging on cults. * Eve meets with Whitney. She updates him on her investigation, telling him that she feels she has cleared both Frank and Feeney, but he won't let her bring Feeney in until Internal Affairs gives them the all clear. ** Eve gives her report on Lobar's death and informs him that her official report excludes Jamie Lingstrom's involvement. After hearing about the jammer, Whitney asks where it is. Eve realizes that Roarke has it. Whitney laughs, "You gave the wolf the key to the henhouse." Chapter 10 * Eve notifies Lobar's next of kin and wonders about how matter-of-factly his mother took the news while Alice's mother was devastated by the loss of her daughter. * Eve and Peabody go to Selina's apartment and meet Alban. ** Selina admits to having sex with Lobar the night before, but claims that he was killed by people who hate members of her cult for their beliefs. * Eve has Peabody run Alban, but his records are clean. Too clean. * Eve and Peabody proceed to Spirit Quest, but it is closed. Peabody has the beginning of a cold and getting soaked in the rain doesn't help. They go across to the street to Café Olé. The owner tells her that a person in a robe was staking out Spirit Quest a couple nights before. When he looked again, he only saw a cat. * Feeney stops by to see Eve while she is reviewing Lobar's autopsy report. She offers him Roarke's Mexican villa for a vacation with his family to ease her guilt about lying to him. Chapter 11 * At Alice's viewing, Eve and Roarke meet Isis and her lover, Charles Forte, whom Isis calls Chas. ** Isis tells Roarke that he saved her life in another time. She gives Roarke a silver Celtic cross she is wearing. Chas spots a man who doesn't belong. ** Isis, Chas, Roarke, and Eve all follow the man outside and confront him. He is Thomas Wineburg of Wineburg Financial. He talks about all the blook and then he cries and says it was just for sex. He suddenly shoves Eve back causing her to fall back into Roarke. They both fall to the ground, as Wineburg runs away. ** Eve and Roarke pursue Wineburg into a parking garage and find him dead with an athame in his heart. ** Eve works the scene and Feeney comes to speak to Roarke, who seconds the offer of the villa. Feeney leaves with a thoughtful look. ** At home, Roarke and Eve share a bath. Her insecurity about why he loves her surfaces and he is annoyed that she questions his taste. He demonstrates to her how attractive she is to him. Day 5 Chapter 12 * At his midtown office, Roarke buys out ScanAir via holo conference and then digs for the membership list to Selina's branch of the Church of Satan. * Eve consults Dr. Mira and is surprised by the depth of Mira's knowledge of the occult. Mira tells Eve that she has studied a great deal as her daughter is Wiccan. * Back at Central, Feeney has put the pieces together and done some digging. He blasts Eve, telling her that he will never trust her again. Eve is devastated. Chapter 13 * Later, at home, Eve pounds a sparring droid, trying to take out her hurt and frustration. Roarke arrives and sees her and realizes that something is very wrong. He gets the story out of Eve and she breaks, crying in his arms. * After Eve goes to bed, Roarke goes to Feeney's. Feeney doesn't want to talk to him, but Roarke tells him what Eve's father did to her and then says, "You've been her father for ten years, Feeney. She didn't deserve to be broken again." Day 6 * The next day, Eve wakes up and feels logy from too much sleep. Roarke convinces her to stay in bed a bit longer. Chapter 14 * Feeney goes to see Whitney at his house and blasts him for keeping him out of the loop. Whitney tells him that Eve was his best shot to clear him and Frank. He also tells him he was off going after Dallas; they were his orders she was following. * Nadine contacts Eve at home and sets up a one on one in Eve's office at noon. * Feeney arrives at Eve's home office and is ashamed to see how badly he hurt her. He apologizes and she adds him to the team. * Eve gets Selina Cross in interview and makes her mad enough to take a swipe at her. Eve has her arrested for assault. **Selina's lawyer, Louis Trivane, is extremely disturbed by the crime scene photos of Lobar. *Eve then goes directly to her interview with Nadine who tells her that Isis' lover is the son of mass murderer David Baines Conroy. Eve suggests that Nadine take a walk to Booking. Chapter 15 * Eve runs David Baines Conroy to familiarize herself with all of the murders he was convicted of. He killed male and female victims. He raped them, dismembered them, and torture killed them. He was convicted in five cases and there are twelve open cases he is the primary suspect in. She then ran his son, Charles, and found a pattern of medical records that indicate child abuse. * Roarke picks Eve up in the limo and takes her to Isis' gathering. They have dinner and sex in the limo on the way. ** Chas heals Eve's neck scratches from Selina's attack. ** Eve tells Chas she knows who his father is and he agrees to meet with her at Spirit Quest in the morning. ** Eve, Feeney, Peabody, and Roarke observe an initiation ceremony for a woman named Mirium. Day 7 Chapter 16 * Chas meets Eve and Peabody on the street. He is drinking his coffee that Isis doesn't approve of. * Isis doesn't want to leave Chas alone in the apartment, but he insists she open the shop. He gives Peabody tea to help with her head cold. Charles tells Eve about his childhood. He tells how his father abused him and then began to rape him when he was thirteen. He tells about wanting to self-teminate and that part of his therapy brought him to Isis. He tells Eve that loving Isis saved him. * When Eve and Peabody return to their police unit, Jamie is waiting for them. He wants details, but Eve won't tell him anything. He leaves upset and Eve has Peabody tail him. * Eve goes in to talk to Isis and Isis reads Eve's mind, describing her father's murder. She is appalled at her own behavior and apologizes to Eve. Chapter 17 * Jamie had put a micro recorder and a location device on Eve's unit and listens to her conversation with Peabody after Eve picks her up. * Mavis comes into Eve's office at Central and reminds her they have a salon date with Trina. While there, Eve gets an idea to send Trina and Mavis into Spirit Quest to see if they are dealing Illegals there. * When Eve gets home, Trina and Mavis are there and tell her about their experience at Spirit Quest. They both believe that Isis is sincere. Day 8 Chapter 18 * Eve has a tattoo of a rosebud on her butt and she is very unhappy about it. * Eve and Roarke spend their Sunday in Martinique, lazing around the pool, making love, and getting tanned. Day 9 * Eve gets a call from Louis Trivane who wants to meet her. When she arrives at his room at The Luxury on Park, he is being hacked up by Mirium, the initiate at Isis' gathering Eve attended. * Back at Central, Eve interviews Mirium and she states that Chas told her to kill Trivane. * Eve interviews Chas, but he claims he is not like his father. Chapter 19 * Peabody objects to the way Eve came at Charles Forte in interview and Eve tells her that she can request a transfer if she doesn't like working with her. * When Spirit Quest and the apartment above are searched, a black robe with Wineburg's blood on it is found. * Eve goes home, miserable about how she had to interrogate Charles Forte. Roarke soothes her. Day Ten - Halloween * Eve and Peabody clear the air first thing in the morning. Eve reviews the data and just can't see Chas as the murderer. She is convinced that Selina is responsible for Frank and Alice's deaths, but evidence and Mirium's testimony says that Chas is responsible for Lobar, Wineburg, and Trivane's murders. * Eve re-interviews Chas. His lawyer, Leila, is a member of his coven. Chas denies everything until Eve suggests that Isis is involved. He is ready to confess, but Leila stops him. Chapter 20 * Eve stakes out Spirit Quest, but sends Peabody on home to get ready for Mavis' Halloween Party. * Eve begins to wonder if Charles Forte was set up. A woman on the street is being attacked and when Eve goes to help her, it's Selina and she injects Eve with a drug that makes her cooperate with her suggestions. Selina confesses all to Eve. She and Alban committed all the murders and set up Charles Forte. * Mavis asks Roarke to tag Eve, as she is late for the party. Peabody arrives in a mermaid costume and says that Dallas should already be there. Roarke can't reach Eve. Peabody last saw her at Spirit Quest. * Eve awakens naked and tied spread eagle to an alter. Selina arrives, followed by Alban wearing a boar's mask. * Jamie was listening to what Selina told Eve in her police unit. He tags Roarke and tells him that Eve is in Selina's apartment. * Peabody changes out of costume and goes to get Feeney. Roarke tags them and tells them to get to Selina's apartment. * Selina tells Eve she is going to rape her and kill her with great pain. Alban sacrifices a chicken and then slides a knife across Selina's throat killing her. Alban admits that he is just a conman running a long con. He used Selina for money and now he plans to rape Eve and then will kill her quickly. * Jamie and Roarke meet up and get through the security to the secret room. * Alban begins to inject Eve with a drug before raping her, but then changes his mind. Eve breaks one arm free from her tether and punches him in the face. ** Roarke flies in like a wolf and attacks Alban. ** Jamie begins to cut Eve's other arm free. After her arms are free, she tells Jaime to deal with the fire in the corner. He wants it to all burn and begins to use the knife to free her ankles. ** Once free, Eve attacks Alban, but he is unconscious from Roarke's uppercut. ** Roarke gives Eve his jacket and goes to deal with the fire. ** Jamie grabs the knife and plunges it into Alban, killing him. ** As the reinforcements arrive, Eve covers for Jamie, saying that she killed Alban in the struggle. Feeney escorts Jamie out. ** Peabody suggests that Eve and Roarke go home to shower and change as they are "a little too in tune with the season." ** Eve orders Peabody to secure the scene and to contact Whitney. She wants Charles Forte released as soon as possible. ** As they are leaving, Peabody compliments Eve on the rosebud tattoo on her butt. Memorable Quotes Character List List of Main Characters Appearing in this Book * Eve * Roarke List of Secondary Characters Appearing in this Book * Ryan Feeney * Mavis Freestone * Nadine Furst * Charlotte Mira * Delia Peabody * Lawrence Summerset * Jack Whitney List of Recurring Characters Appearing in this Book * Galahad * Trina * Anna Whitney List of Minor Characters Appearing in this Book * Alban * Carter * Cassandra * Selina Cross * Forenski * Charles Forte * Mirium Hopkins * Leila * Alice Lingstrom * Jamie Lingstrom * Robert Allen Mathias (Lobar) * Isis Paige * Louis Trivane * Thomas Wineburg * Brenda Wojinski * Curtis Wojinski * Pete Wojinski * Sally Wojinski List of Peripheral Characters Appearing in this Book * Marion Burns * David Baines Conroy * Sheila Feeney * Jane * Arthur Simon * Schultz * Suzanna * Frank Wojinski Trivia *Trina gives Eve a rosebud tattoo on her buttock. *Eve is informed by Isis that the engraving on her wedding ring is a Celtic sign of protection. 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